Tread Carefully
by Crushafo
Summary: Sometimes it doesn't pay to get out bed early, especially when the day shall contain dimension-hopping lookalikes and demons that live to kill and kill to live. Two new chapters added and the first three corrected to the best of my ability. R/R
1. And so it begins.

==Woowoo! Look at me! =) I'm actually trying to publish my very   
==first Ranma 1/2 fanfiction story! No doubt this will be   
==skipped, but I will say it anyways: excuse any mistakes you   
==see, English is not my first language. Suffice to say, Ranma   
==1/2 does not belong to me. ;_; Oh rats. The idea is, for the   
==most part, mine. I think I have seen something like this somewhere   
==though, but for the life of me, I can't remember where. However,   
==I did not deliberately copy!   
==Really quick side note, I try to be fair to other people's creations,   
==which is why no one will see any charactor-bashing on my part. Well,   
==maybe just the eensiest, teensiest bit by way of Akane (it happens   
==subconciencely, I tell you!) because I loathe her. =)  
==** signifies thoughts.  
  
  
Shink, click. Dark blue eyes peering out from beneath ragged black bangs of hair reflected in the cold steel as it pointed and then swooped towards the young Amazon lying on the ground, crimson blood spurting from the deep clean cut that crossed her chest, shoulder to shoulder. She screamed with anger as she rolled to dodge it.   
  
The person wielding the aimed sword angled his body to take in accordance of the roll. His vision was filled with purple hair as she rolled beneath him and aimed her elbow for his gut. The sword was quickly exchanged from one hand to the other so he could block the blow with his good arm. His other hung limp at his side, numb with pain as blood dripped off it from the ugly gash that started at his shoulder and ended a few centimeters above his wrist.   
  
She smirked, and then kicked his legs from beneath him. His knees buckled and he fell on top of her. He dropped the sword and curled both arms around her, clamping her own limbs tightly to her body. His face was twisted with pain and his eyes shown bright with tears.  
  
"You are a fool! You cannot hope to defeat me," she rasped, the voice flowing from her delicate throat was ragged and harsh. She effortlessly twisted her head almost 180 degrees and sunk her sharp teeth into his arm, beads of red popping up at their sharp edge.  
  
He grunted and brought his semi-useless hand forward to cover her eyes, looping a leg over her twisting hips. "You're wrong," he said coldly as she tried to shake herself free of his grasp, "I have exactly where I want you." His hand tightened over her head. "Moko takabisha!" Light flared at his palm before it surrounded the head. It exploded like pulp beneath the energy attack.   
  
He fell limp across the body then, watching with a pained heart as the fine, youthful curves disintegrated into dust. He pulled a medallion from beneath his ragged, blood-soaked Chinese shirt and kissed it lovingly. "That was for the dishonorment my wife, you bastard," he whispered.  
  
  
  
  
Chinka chinka chinka chinka chinka   
  
Ranma looked up from where he was arguing with Akane as she stomped to school on the sidewalk and he followed closely behind, balancing on the fence beside the sidewalk. "Do you feel something, Akane?" he asked. She continued on walking with her nose in the air and her jaw set stubbornly. Ranma watched her and then snorted in disgust before his mind wandered back to the pressing energies he felt around himself. He cast a quick glance over his shoulder and halted in place.  
  
Akane continued on without him. Ranma did not notice it. His gaze and attention were centered on a spot in the street where his sense told him that the energies were pressing together the most. It dissipated suddenly and flared a bright orange, which blinded Ranma.   
  
He fell from the fence as he tried to shield his eyes from the light. He jumped back on to his feet as he felt something wrong. The hair on the back of his neck began to stand on end. He whirled around to face the shadows of the fence before glanced quickly down the street where Akane was still walking on, ignoring him and disinterested in what was happening. He cast a quick glimpse around; the urging of something absolutely horrible caused his body to tense for a fight.   
  
Ranma heard quick footsteps behind him and he turned around to see a tall and lean young man with long black hair pulled back in a tight pigtail striding quickly towards him. His black clothes were suspiciously damp and clung in certain areas and the sword his hand was tightly clamped on the handle of dripped with a crimson liquid. Ranma stared at it with surprise then wordlessly fell into a fighting position against the person.  
  
Not a word was spoken as the young man stopped in his tracks and glared belligerently at Ranma. His chest heaved with winded gasps for air; the few locks of black hair that had escaped from their tight confinement clung to his damp face. The streets were empty, and as Ranma stole a quick glance to see where Akane was, he saw she had disappeared. He was glad, not wanting her to wind up in this fight. He cast a wary glance at the sword. Ranma followed the glance in to see the other man staring sharply at a spot in the early morning shadows the surrounding buildings cast.   
  
He gestured weakly at Ranma. "Get out of here," he breathed and waved his hand. He gulped and coughed weakly to clear his gravely voice. His body bent slightly in weariness. Ranma stared at him, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.  
  
"Why should I?"  
  
The young man drew his free hand across his mouth, keeping his eyes on the spot in the shadows. "Because there is a terrible danger here."   
  
"All the more reason for me to stick around," Ranma shot back, stuffing his hands into his pockets and tilting his head slightly to the side. The young man gave him a look of shock and then his eyes trailed over his figure as if recognizing who Ranma was for the first time. He shook his head to clear it but nearly lost his balance in the process.   
  
"How . . . Never mind. Just get out of here!"   
  
"No! How do I know you aren't the terrible danger?"   
  
The lavender eyes that had been open in shock at the sight of Ranma narrowed dangerously as they darted quickly from the shadows to Ranma and then back again. "I may be one," the young man admitted reluctantly, "but I'm not the one that should be feared." Ranma's gaze traveled over to the shadows to see what had captured his attention so attentively. Something flickered before it disappeared. He looked back at the young man, who was looking at the same spot once more.  
  
"You come out of nowhere with a sword dripping with blood, looking as if you just went all-out in a serious fight, and you expect me to believe that?" Ranma demanded in a dangerous voice, pointing one white-knuckled hand at the offending object.   
  
The lavender eyes hardened and the sword tip titled upward point at Ranma. The young man's body fell into an easy stance with one foot crossed casually in front of the other and one hand held onto the sword while the other guided the blade upward. The position was almost amazingly elegant, taking in the fact that the young man was still breathing hard and a puddle of blood was beginning to pool beneath his feet.  
  
"You'll find that I am not ready to quit yet. Anything that does this to me is not a safe thing to be around with. Don't you have someone to protect?" The last sentence was spit out with a tone that Ranma could only pinpoint as bitter. The young man tensed suddenly, his eyes flickering back and forth between Ranma and the spot that had fascinated him, then launched forward with a slight stumble. "Shit!"  
  
Ranma fell into a ready stance as he saw the young man pounce upon him. He was taken by surprise when the young man knocked him to the side just as something whizzed by his head, the hair upon his head stirring from the brushing encounter.  
  
"RUN!" The young man centered his stance for balance and brought his sword up just as something struck it. He countered and slashed at the almost-human shimmering shape looming above them. Something wet landed on Ranma's cheek. A red slash opened neatly across the shimmering shape before it closed and disappeared as if it never existed. The gray thing whizzed around the young man's next swing and over his head. It descended upon Ranma, shimmering and growing colorful as it absorbed itself through his skin.   
  
Ranma was on fire as time stopped for him. He was going through hell. It was the only thing he could think of as he felt the shimmering object began to twist and mold beneath fiery needles and prods. Sinking into a black pit, he dimly heard a voice yelling towards him.  
  
"Ranma! Ranma fight it! Don't let it get to your weakness! Don't listen to what it says! Keep a sharp focus on something! . . . Damn it, why does everything always happen to me?"  
  
*I know how you feel, buddy,* Ranma thought dimly as everything began to grow more and more faint and he descended deeper into the black pit. A dull roar soon filled his mind, and something jerked sharply. He found himself wrapped in fish sausages. And now, Ranma did know hell as he descended into his worst fear.   
  
The young man stumbled back in shock, his shoulders drooping as he watched the possessed martial artist stand up.   
  
What had been Ranma shook his head, and then opened eyes that were colorless and empty and yet still managed to convey the sense of a great bloodlust and wonder of moving things. They blinked before focusing on the young man.  
  
"Sstupid boy," Possessed-Ranma hissed. "I knew you wouldn't dare sstrike at thiss body while I wass in my weakesst sstate."   
  
The young man clenched his free fist and then aimed the sword at Possessed-Ranma. He cast a wicked eye at the weapon and then smirked. "You wouldn't dare try to usse that on thiss body, and we both know that." The young man glared across the space at him, drawing in deep, steady breaths to regain lost energy. Possessed-Ranma chuckled, and then took a step forward   
  
--- sweeping through the air, weightless and past the streams of time where it is not affected, stand behind the target ---  
  
and was directly behind the young man and made a vicious kick at him. The kick connected and sent the young man sprawling across the pavement. He rolled and came to his knees, his hand still tightly clenched around the handle.  
  
Possessed-Ranma cocked his head and gave him an unreadable glance. "Should I feasst upon you now? You do not have enough energy for me to benefit though." The face broke into a wide malicious smile. "On the other hand, I can jusst wait until you are better before coming after you." A finger came to his lip in a contemplating action. "Yess, that ssoundss like the coursse of action I will go."   
  
"Let him go," the young man mumbled from where he kneeling.   
  
The colorless eyes widened. "Iss thiss a requesst I am ressieving from one of the greater Orca Hunterss? Do I hear pleading?" He cupped an ear with a hand. "Beg louder, and I might obey." He smirked at the withering scowl that the young man responded with. "You are too tired to fight, though I musst admit you were a good opponent. I almosst thought I wass going to ssee the end!" Possessed-Ranma chucked again, and suddenly whirled around to stare at Akane, who was angrily tromping around the corner.  
  
"I knew it!" she angrily yelled. "You're getting into trouble again and thanks to you, we are going to be late for school!" The young man watched as a gleam appeared in Possessed-Ranma's white eyes.   
  
Possessed-Ranma hungrily licked his lips as he watched Akane stomp up next to him. She swung her book bag at him and he effortlessly dodged it before snatching it out of her hands and tossing it over his shoulders.   
  
Akane stared at him in surprise. "Err! Ranma! You're trying to make me late for school, aren't you?" She swung at him, but received another unexpected surprise when he caught her fist and launched a kick at her. It hit her in the midriff and threw her back several feet before she skidded across the sidewalk to a stop, her breath knocked out. Possessed-Ranma quickly closed the gap between them with two giant steps forward and grabbed her by her hair. Akane screamed and tried to punch him again, but he socked her flat against the head and knocking her out just as the young man did some quick contemplation as to whether or not to let the Orca feast upon and thereby destroy Tendo Akane.  
  
It was tempting (oh! So very tempting!), but he had sworn to protect everyone from the Orcas, so with a great effort, he climbed to his feet and stumbled after Possessed-Ranma, trying to catch his balance as his legs wanted to quit on him.   
  
The Orca pinned Akane's prone body beneath his own and was about to sink his teeth into her throat when he sensed the Hunter coming after him. He snorted and then swung backward. The blow connected with the side of the young man's chest. The white eyes narrowed in wicked glee and flexed his arm before pulling it forward.  
  
Something tore and the hand came away bloody as it held a long white bone. The young man collapsed on top of Possessed-Ranma's back and he dropped the sword. The strange metal blade clanged as it hit the ground. The young man's mouth was wide open in silent screams of agony. The Orca hummed and leaned backward against the lean body. The bloody hand lifted the white bone to his lips.   
  
"Perhaps I shall arrange to have ssome fun with you. Thiss body is capable of being both ssexess." Possessed-Ranma's body shifted and changed until it now wore Ranma's cursed form. Her lips ran along the bone before the tongue snaked out to taste the fresh blood that was still slick across the surface. She hummed again and reached down for the young man's hand. She brought it up to rest it against her left breast. "Thiss iss what I like besst of the human body," she whispered, her husky voice breathless with wonder, "they can feel so much!"  
  
She sensed the free hand shifting wearily beside her and smiled. "There iss nothing you can do," she said, dropping his hand and reaching down to grab Akane's hair again. She craned the neck backwards again. Something flared at her side and pain suddenly arched through her body.   
  
"Didn't anyone ever tell you to never underestimate your opponent?" the young man hissed as Possessed-Ranma-chan screamed and the body began to metamorph itself from male to female to male to female and then back once more to male to stay there.   
  
Ranma bonelessly collapsed forward as the shimmering figure seeped out of him and wrapped itself around the metallic blue knife that the Hunter had slipped into Ranma's ribs. It flickered and then the blade's metallic color dulled and faded to black before turning to dust.  
  
The young man stumbled to his feet, his hand pressed against the hole in his side as blood pouring through the cracks of his fingers. With a rough sigh, energy flared at his palm and cauterized the wound, burning and closing the bleeding hole. His shoulders drooped in weariness as he pulled a bundle of bandages and ointment from the same hammer space he had pulled the Eos Blade. His tired gaze fell upon Ranma and Akane as he weakly pulled a strip free, and his handsome features softened. He took a step forward but froze as Ranma and Akane began to stir.   
  
Ranma had just been yanked from a nightmare of Nekoken into a hazy world where all his pain was centered upon one spot in his ribs. He sat up, trying to make heads and tails of his surroundings even as another struggle within him took place in an effort to regain control of his senses.   
  
Akane came to at the same time, but recovered her senses much faster. True to form, with what Possessed-Ranma had just done to her and seeing Ranma sitting on top of her, Akane reacted predictably.  
  
"RANMA! YOU JERK!" She swung a fist and punched him in the nose. He fell backwards, out for the count once more. Akane jumped to her feet and started to aim a kick at Ranma but was stopped when a plastic bottle of ointment was thrown and bounced off her forehead. She turned her wrathful gaze to observe a handsome young man, ragged and bleeding, glaring at her with the most hate she had ever seen before.  
  
She shivered as he limped forward and stooped to pick Ranma up. He fumbled twice before managing it. "I had half a mind to let the demon that possessed him to kill you. I decided against it. You make me regret the decision." He turned his back on the stunned Akane and draped the unconscious Ranma over his shoulder. He hoped the knife wound was clean enough so it wouldn't bleed greatly.   
  
As he limped down the street, Akane glared after the young man and ventured her glance downward. When she saw the drops of blood trailing after him, she guiltily looked up. *So much blood. How can anyone survive that great of a loss?* She jogged over to his side.   
  
"I can show you where Dr. Tofu' clinic is," she began sheepishly as the young man turned hardened lavender eyes upon her. "He's a doctor that could take care of you and Ranma." The eyes softened slightly and the young man cast an almost fond glance at the figure he was carrying. He nodded.  
  
"Do so please," he said. Akane turned down a street then stopped as she watched the young man falter in step when he followed after her.   
  
"Let me carry Ranma," she said. The lavender eyes turned on her again and the hatred flared worse than before.   
  
"Why? So you can hit him in his defenseless state?"   
  
Akane bristled under the words. "Fine! You can find Dr Tofu's on your own! I'm going to school!" She whirled around and stomped off, the anger in her heart burning away the guilt she felt. The young man continued on stiffly with his free hand clutching at his wounds in an attempt to stop the bleeding.   
  
  
  
  
Dr Tofu was going through his papers and arranging his appointments for the day when he heard a knock on the door of his clinic. He cast a quick glance at the list and noticed he wouldn't be having anyone for another hour. He shrugged and thought it was one of the Nerima Wrecking Team members (Ranma WAS due for a visit anytime soon). He walked over to the door and opened it, only to have a somewhat ragged Ranma thrust into his arms as soon as he had done so and the tangy metallic scent of blood wafted his senses.   
  
"Huh?" Now what did Ranma do?  
  
"Take care of him," the young man who stood before him said matter-of-factly, leaning against the doorframe for support. "I should have removed the demon from him before his mind was broken and his body poisoned, but there is still the matter of that cut in his ribs. I believe I missed the lungs, and I tried to stop the blood flow the best I could. The wound isn't too bad, I think."  
  
Dr Tofu shot a quick glance at Ranma, then at the young man. "You look worse than him," he stated professionally at the ragged figure.  
  
The young man shook his head. He gazed at Ranma, his eyes resting tenderly upon the martial artist. "I've been through worse, and I am used to what happens to me." He looked up. "I would fear for Ranma though." He bowed his head. "Thank you." He turned and limped down the hall; his shoulders drooped with exhaustion. Dr Tofu adjusted his glasses and looked after the young man. He had disappeared.  
  
He shook his head sadly, but knew from experience it would not help to argue with a stubborn person who was capable of disappearing before Dr Tofu could do anything.  
  
  
  
  
Shampoo was hurrying through the park on her bike with an order in one hand and the other on her handlebars for fine control-well, maybe not so fine. All the flattened squirrels that lay behind her with x's for eyes would agree if they were alive to. As she bicycled through the park, she noticed a dark figure hunched over on a park bench. Shampoo would have kept going if it were not for the fact the sharp scent of blood hung in the air. She skidded to a halt and looked at the figure. It did not stir from the slumped position it lay in.   
  
Shampoo cocked her head as she peered at him. She shot a quick glance at the order she held and then guiltily resumed her biking. Grandmother would be upset with her if the order turned cold. Maybe he would still be there when she got back . . .  



	2. The fascination of all things.

==Woowoo! Look at me! =) I'm actually trying to publish my very   
==first Ranma 1/2 fanfiction story! No doubt this will be   
==skipped, but I will say it anyways: excuse any mistakes you   
==see, English is not my first language. Suffice to say, Ranma   
==1/2 does not belong to me. ;_; Oh rats. The idea is, for the   
==most part, mine. I think I have seen something like this somewhere   
==though, but for the life of me, I can't remember where. However,   
==I did not deliberately copy!   
==** signifies thoughts.  
  
  
  
  
Akane grumped and refused to answer anyone's questions as she lived her day out at school. It wasn't that she was in a bad mood, but that she regretted herself for hasty reaction she had pulled with Ranma and that stranger. She kept wondering . . . What if that man didn't know the way to Dr Tofu's? What if he didn't get there on time? Would Ranma be all right? What about the stranger?   
  
Perhaps she did act a little hasty.   
  
She mentally whacked more sense into herself with her equally mental mallet. Why did she have to be so stubborn as to do something that foolish? She should have realized something was wrong when Ranma hit her. She absently tugged at a lock of hair, ignoring the teacher's droning lecture upon square roots and variables and all that other nonsense.   
  
As soon as the bell rang, she shot through school and ran through the yard, guilt riding at her conscience. I'm sorry, Ranma, she thought sadly to herself. She did not know where she going to be able to find them or where she should head. With a heavy heart, she decided to head home and hope he would be there.  
  
As she was walking down the street, she spied a familiar figure walking on top of the chain link fence. He had one hand casually behind his head while the other held a blueberry ice-cream cone. The wind blew at his springy black hair and tugged at his red Chinese shirt. Akane brightened up immediately to see that there was nothing wrong, and then her mood turned black.  
  
How dare that jerk act as if nothing bad has happened this morning while I sat all through school, worried sick about him! She ran up to him and threw her book bag with unerring accuracy at his head.  
  
"Huh?" Ranma turned around in time to see the book bag flying at his face, and effortlessly dodged it. He jumped off the fence while still licking his ice cream and landed in front of Akane with the hand that had been held behind his head tucking itself into a pocket.  
  
That was when Akane realized that this person was not Ranma.  
  
Ranma did not have gray in his hair, nor did he have a long fresh scar running up the side of his arm, and Ranma most certainly did not have three gold earring hoops in his left ear; however, Akane could not deny that both he and Ranma bore a very strong resemblance. The stranger leaned close as Akane scrutinized his face. He frowned as he looked at her, and a strange emotion flared into his deep blue eyes. Akane felt herself drowning in them for a moment and then snapped out of it as the stranger offered her book bag out to her. Wondering how he managed to get it after he had ducked it when she threw it at him, she accepted it.  
  
"I'm sorry," she said sheepishly, "I mistook you for someone else." She smiled to prove she was sincere, but the stranger did not return the smile. He simply hmmed and turned his back to her. Akane felt her anger flair up at the callousness of Ranma for not accepting a perfectly acceptable apology. She calmed herself down by reminding herself that this wasn't Ranma . . . no, it just felt like the jerk and maybe even looked and acted like him, but it wasn't Ranma. She sighed and bowed her head. "I truly am sorry," she said.   
  
The stranger laughed then. Akane gave him an odd glance, hoping he was only passing through Nerima, there were already enough weirdoes in the area without him adding to them . . . The stranger stopped and took a bite out of his ice cream. He cast an amused look over his shoulder at Akane. "If you knew who I was and if you were doing it because of who I think you mistook me for, then no, you wouldn't be sorry." He smirked as Akane's face grew red with anger and he turned his back to her again.  
  
He took several steps down the street before stopping and once more looking over his shoulder at her. His eyes swept up and down her figure, and then he smiled almost gently. "You're still an uncute violent tomboy with no sense of self-discipline," he said fondly.  
  
He laughed and dodged the book bag Akane angrily threw at him.   
  
  
  
He heard a footfall beside him and when he looked up, he was not surprised to see who it was. "How did it go?" his father asked him. The young man leaned back from where he had been hunched over on the park bench and shrugged as less as possible while still being able to convey his feelings. He could feel his wound pulling at his skin beneath his shirt. "That bad, huh?" His father sat down beside him, the sunlight glinting off the triple-hoop earring set in his ear. He crossed one leg over the other and looked at the yellow daffodils his son had been staring at. After a moment, he began to lick blueberry ice cream from his fingers. "Have you ever noticed how these odd things in our life only happens when we eat blueberry ice-cream? Something is almost incredibly odd about that."  
  
The young man gave a short laugh. "Yeah, maybe you should switch back to strawberry cheesecake."  
  
They sat in silence for a while, and then "Did you use that ointment I made? It numbs the wounds so they don't hurt nearly as much."  
  
"I know. I didn't use it though."  
  
"And why not?"  
  
"I threw it at someone."  
  
His father shook a disproving finger. "S'no reason to waste it like that."  
  
"I threw it at Akane because she was going to kick y-the other Ranma."  
  
"Oh. I was wondering why she attacked me earlier today."  
  
'Humph. I could expect nothing else from that psycho bitch."  
  
"Hey hey! No need to confuse her with Kodachi."   
  
"Pheh."  
  
"Besides, what happened back there and why are we here? I mean, how did you get here with that Orca you were fighting and why did I wind up in a different place with my ice-cream?"  
  
"I don't ask questions I don't want answers to."  
  
"Okay then, I will ask them."  
  
The young man watched as his father pulled a cigarette out of a pocket and lit it. The sweet scent of herbs drifted over him. "I wish you wouldn't smoke those next to me."  
  
"You're in no position to make complaints, which I know you're going to launch into next. All this running has made my lungs ache and I want to clear them out before I start a coughing fit." The young man leaned his head back and sighed, conspicuously covering his nose. His father continued on as he ignored the gesture. "For the life of me, I can't think of what happened. Normally, this would appear as a chance to start anew, but heck . . . I'm still old, you're still here, and so is everyone else."  
  
"Has it ever occurred to you that fighting as we do with the Orcas that the dimensional barriers grew strained, and somehow or another, we tore a barrier and came through a different dimension?"  
  
"We could have also time-traveled, but I think you may be right on that different dimensions thingy too. Otherwise, since the way we seemed to have screwed up-"  
  
"WE, old man?"  
  
"I'm going to ignore what you said right now because I hate to hit someone who's just been hurt."  
  
"Oh so kind with your consideration, Pop."  
  
"I try to be. Anyways, if we changed the timelines, both of us would never come to exist because it would screw up our future. So, we can effectively say that we are in another dimension, yes. But this is good, because I can now do all those I wanted to back when I was seventeen!"  
  
"You mean you don't already?"  
  
"Hey! It's one thing to act seventeen back in China, but it's another to act seventeen back here." He stood up, finishing the cigarette. He tossed it in the nearby trashcan. "Come on Chiba, I got some of that ointment with me, and I can find a hotel room and apply it to your wounds." He watched as his son slowly stood to his feet. His gaze narrowed. "And as soon as you're all better, I'm going to whack you for losing a perfectly good bottle of that stuff. Here, lean on me."  
  
The young man did so, placing an arm around his shorter father's shoulders and allowing the arm around his waist to support his weight. He smiled gently. "Sure you are," he said almost lovingly. His father's wide blue eyes turned on him.  
  
"You mean you doubt me?" he asked.  
  
"Pop, let's just say, I love you."  
  
"Oh. Well, I guess I can't hit you, now can I?" he asked with a grin.   
  
  
  
Shampoo hurried through the park, once more ignoring any squirrels that fell victim to her tire treads. She skidded to a halt before the place where she was sure she had seen that person. Her heart grew unexplainably heavy. She shot a quick glance over the bench and stiffened slightly when she saw a smear of dark blood across the back of it. She hopped off her bike and walked over to touch it.   
  
"Shampoo sorry," she said without knowing why.   
  
  
  
"Ouch! Not so hard!"  
  
"Oh don't crab on me, I'm the woman here."  
  
"Ouch!"  
  
"Stop complaining before I hit you with the comb!"  
  
"I didn't ask you to brush my hair, Pop!"   
  
"You're not lifting that arm until you are better! I can't believe that monster ripped a rib out!"  
  
"Ouch! Don't pull at my hair!"  
  
"Don't be such a baby, Chiba!" There was a pounding on the door. "What is it?"  
  
A voice came from the other side of the door. "Will you be quiet? Some of us are trying to sleep!"  
  
"Ah, so sorry!"   
  
"I told you not to get such a cheap hotel room, Pop."  
  
"What else am I supposed to do? Show up at the Tendo Dojo and say, 'Hey! Remember me? I'm your son, Ranma. Now, I know you already have Ranma, but I'm a different Ranma, though I'm still your son, and I kind of need a place to stay because I don't have a whole lot of money. Oh yeah, and this is my son, Chiba,'?" The young man looked thoughtful at the words. His father stopped and thought about what he just said. "Oh the other hand," he continued on, "it might be worth the trouble just by seeing the looks on their face."   
  
"Say Pop?"  
  
"Hm?"  
  
"Will we run into Mom here?" A thoughtful look overcame his father's face as he gently ran the comb through Chiba's hair. He leaned back, the springs in the mattress they were sitting on creaked in the silence. He looked thoughtful again, the earlier playfulness gone from his features.   
  
"I have no doubt we will," he said wistfully. He smiled and playfully poked Chiba in the uninjured shoulder. "When we do, would you mind if I give her a big kiss on the lips? When you were younger, you used to make to most delightful face when we did."  
  
"Hey! I was a kid back then! It was natural that I wasn't going to like mushy stuff!"   
  
"Yeah yeah, excuses don't become you, boy."  
  
"Pop!"  
  
  
  
Akane stopped by at Doctor Tofu's to ease her bitter curiosity to see if Ranma had stopped by. Her heart leapt with relief and joy when she learned he had been brought by, he was patched up, and had felt good enough to get home on his own. She thanked him and skipped out of the office, glad to know that she hadn't done a great amount of damage. She reached the dojo in relatively good time. Akane entered the house in time to duck Happossai as Ranma dropkicked him through the air.  
  
"I'm injured and I don't need you to make me feel worse!" he yelled at him. He turned back to his cushion and sulked. "Sheesh! Never fails! When I can't fight, every enemy in the world pops up and try to get revenge on me for some rotten grudge."  
  
"Ranma!" Akane dropped her book bag and kicked her shoes off. Ranma looked up from where he was sitting. She stopped before him, hid her hands behind her back sheepishly, and gave him a grateful smile. "I'm glad you're okay," she said.  
  
"Oh. Thanks Akane." Ranma returned her smile just as Soun and Genma popped up.  
  
"It's finally happening!" Soun cried with tears pouring from his eyes. Genma nodded with tears in his own eyes. "Our children are getting along, and it won't be long before they finally get married!"  
  
"Er, grow up old man!" Ranma said. He glared at Akane. "That reminds me, what the heck were you thinking when you hit me like that?"  
  
Akane's own temper flared. She had been trying to be nice and he had to go and spoil the moment! "Well, you were the one who punched me!"  
  
Ranma stood up, his hand unconsciously flying to cover the bandage around his ribs beneath his shirt. "I didn't punch you! I never hit a girl!"  
  
"Well, you did this time!"  
  
"I couldn't have!"  
  
Akane stopped fighting, remember the young man from earlier who had thrown the plastic bottle at her. His words echoed in her mind. *I had half a mind to let the demon that possessed him to kill you. I decided against it. You make me regret the decision.* A blush lit up her face. "I'm sorry," she said softly, feeling guilty once more. She turned and ran from the room. Ranma blinked behind her before sitting back down on his cushion again.   
  
"What's her problem?" he asked himself.   
  
  
  
Akane opened her bedroom door and slammed it behind her. She sat down on her bed and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. She sighed. *What did that person mean by that demon possessing Ranma?* She closed her eyes and grimaced at her own stupidity. "I'm such an idiot. I really shouldn't have reacted the way I did with him. Maybe he would have explained what he meant by that." She closed her eyes and tried to think back to those few moments when Ranma didn't seem to be, well, Ranma at all.  
  
*Let me see . . . I was coming around the corner because Ranma wasn't there and I kind of figured that it was up to me to see what sort of trouble he got into, so I went back, and he was facing that person earlier. I called out to him, and then he turned and looked at me, but I was mad at him so I threw my bag at him. He dodged it and then he looked at me with this pale eyes . . . Pale, blank, white eyes . . . Uhoh.*  
  
Akane jumped off her bed and ran out of her room, leaving her bedroom door open. "Ranma!" she yelled, running down the stairs to where she had seen him sitting on the cushion. He had not moved from the spot as she entered the room. She fell silent as he turned his bored gaze upon her. "Ranma," she began slowly, "what was it like when you had been possessed?"  
  
This caught the attention of everyone in the room, which consisted of Soun and Genma.   
  
"Possessed?" Ranma echoed. Akane nodded her head as she sat down beside him.   
  
"That young man who helped you, he said you had been possessed by a demon. That was why you hit me, even though you didn't do it. I'm sorry for getting upset," she nervously rubbed her arm as Ranma's eyes drilled into her, "I didn't mean it, really. I was . . . well, I sort of lost my temper and I know I shouldn't have. But that person who was there, that young man with the sword, he said you had been possessed."  
  
Ranma closed his eyes in the remembered pain of reliving those days when he had been "learning" the Nekoken. He cast a belligerent glare at his father, who cringed slightly under the heated anger. "It wasn't pleasant," he said softly and left it at that.  



	3. Black Friday

  
Two days later . . .  
  
"Next time we go looking for a new place to stay, remind me to make sure you bring along some umbrellas," Ranma-chan said as she trudged through the streets. Her white-streaked red hair shone in the dim sunlight even as the clouds began to clear up. "Damn, I should have remembered what the weather here is like." She glanced down at the noticeable budge in the front of her shirt. It began to wiggle around so she lightly whacked it.  
  
"Chu!" came an angry cry deep from the lump.   
  
"Don't you dare use that tone on ME boy, you're forgetting whose currently the more powerful of the two right now. Be quiet Chiba, is it my fault you fell into the wrong spring?"  
  
"Chu!"  
  
"Hmmm, well, you're right. You could have fallen into the spring of the Almost Drowned Akane, and then you would have been a violent uncute tomboy whenever hit with cold water. Yeah, I suppose there are worse things than being what you are." They stopped at a street corner and Ranma-chan quickly glanced up and down the street, searching for a car. She didn't see any so she crossed over to the other side.   
  
As she was walking, her nose picked up the sharp scent of noodles. "All right!" She hurried down the street to the food vendor she saw ahead of herself, effortlessly skipping around those few people who lay before her. As she was reaching the place, something black shot out off a side street and she stepped on it.  
  
*splut*  
  
"BWEEE!"  
  
"Pika?"  
  
"Oh damn, it's you."  
  
". . . Bwee?"  
  
  
  
Ryouga thought to himself that he should be proud of what he was. Sure, he had been lost for most of his life and the ability to become a little, semi-helpless black piglet really wasn't quite something he could call a blessing. However, he was a martial artist and one of the best at that. Above that, he had a gold visa card with a five thousand dollar spending limit that his parents had given to him when they managed to get together for the first time in nine years . . .  
  
He was lonely though. And lost. And hungry. And human.  
  
*Well, one out of four wasn't so bad,* he considered as he made his way through unfamiliar streets. *You'd think that with all the traveling I had done all my life I would actually be able to recognize a place. Oh well.*   
  
He slowly made his way down the empty streets, wondering where all the people and cars were. As he made his way across the street, a lavender cat streaked by him, her tail in the air and her ears perked with determination. Ryouga stopped and stared after it.  
  
"Now," he began softly, "where have I seen that cat before? I could swear it was Shampoo but . . . Nah. Must be some sort of rare breed." That was when, from the direction the cat ran to, a scream sounded. Ryouga turned around to see a buxom redhead whiz by him with the cat on her head, closely following by a dark-haired mallet-wielding person yelling, "Hold still so I can whack her, Ranma!"  
  
Ryouga blinked. "I could swear that scene should be dead," he said to himself as he looked after the two disappearing people. He scratched his head and then wandered across the street, reasoning it was the mushrooms he had for dinner last night. He was promptly glomped by a young man with dark hair and, unfortunately, glassless.   
  
"Shampoo!" he called. "My love!"   
  
Ryouga pushed away with a look of horror on his face. "Where the hell am I?" he yelled, running away from the blind Amazon. Mousse stared blankly at his surroundings before the crash of Ranma hitting something solid and screaming as she did it caught his interest and he ran after it. Ryouga ran as quickly as he could away from his past, wanting to shake it and make it leave him alone. It was bad enough that he had to stick around with Ranma and that insolent son of his, but this was too much!   
  
It had to be those mushrooms he had for dinner last night. It wasn't as if there was anything around for him to eat to begin with though.  
  
And that was when he hit something solid. It went, "Oof!" and both he and whatever he ran into fell down onto the solid pavement. He opened his eyes to gaze . . . At Ranma-chan. His eyes quickly settled upon the triple-earring set in her left ear. "You!" He leaped to his feet and grabbed the front of her shirt, lifting her off the ground. "What the hell is going on around here?" he demanded.   
  
"Nice to see you too, Ryouga," she replied flippantly without batting an eye at the fact her feet were a good foot off the pavement, her pointed toes wavering slightly in the air.   
  
"Oh no! You aren't getting out of this that easily! What the hell is going on and why do I see dead ghosts of the past running around in circles?"  
  
"Pika!" A yellow head popped out of the front of Ranma-chan's shirt. It glared ominously as Ryouga. "PikaCHU!" A wave of electricity shot from the bulging cheeks of the little mouse-like animal and Ryouga was thrown across the street to crash against a telephone pole. The metal bent backward under his body. He shook his head in an attempt to clear it. He dimly heard running steps coming toward him, which slowed to a stop as his side. He peered upward at the busty redhead with the yellow bulge tucked neatly in the front of her shirt.  
  
"Pika!" it declared.  
  
"Yeah, nice to see you too, Chiba," Ryouga groaned before falling backward into a dark blissful state.   
  
  
  
  
It stirred, feeling the chaos far above itself in a world that it longed to exist in. It ruffled its still body, having little more substance than that of the darkness that filled their world, far below the ground. It shuffled side to side, brushing against the others of its kind.   
  
Here, below, in this world where was nothing but darkness, it was hard to believe one could exist. And so lived these poor creatures, day-to-day, hour-by-hour. They lived, yes, but only in the absolute sense. It was easy to think, but also too painful. Trapped forever in this dreary realm, there was nothing to do. They could think. A little. The thought came slowly and in fragments, as if they had to broken into small pieces to be stuffed down a long, almost endless funnel.   
  
And then it happened. In a seemingly random act of coincidences, someone above in the ground hit a spot in the ground just right with just enough anger in the impact from the emotion to arc through the ground to the far reached below in the caverns of the trapped being and touched the mind of one that still had dim memories of having once lived before in the light, with the ability to touch, feel, see and hear all things.   
  
A thought occurred to it.  
  
Weakness.   
  
A long moment passed, and then another thought came.  
  
This weakness could be worn down.  
  
The next thought was rushed and breathless, though still slow by normal standards.  
  
And if the weakness is gone, then we will be free!  
  
The mind of the creature reared up against the anger and the surging hope-so foreign, but welcome-reaching forth above to the weak spot in the ground and tore desperately at it. Slowly, it was worn away and the creature could feel life and emotions beyond.   
  
  
  
  
  
Akane shivered and skidded to a halt, forgetting about running after Ranma-chan and neko-Shampoo. She glanced over her shoulder at the riverbank that wore the imprint of her hammer. She stared at it for a moment, feeling some emotion beating around inside her, trying to tell her something. Fears of the darkness came back alive and she shivered. She absently took a step away from the spot and from the gnarled old tree that grew over the bank and shadowed the stream. She turned from it and she caught the sight of Ranma-chan disappearing. Knowing that the nekoken was inevitable but wanting to be there for Ranma when she needed her, she quickened her pace to catch up with them.   
  
Behind her, unnoticed to the world, the old tree shuddered and its branches dipped downward. One leaf curled up and turned black before breaking away from the tree and drifting down to the river's pristine water.   
  
  
  
  
"Well, it's been a couple years since the last time I saw you. Tell me, how's it been and how'd you get here?" Ranma asked sweetly as he stirred several large teaspoons of sugar into his tea. Chiba and Ryouga arched their eyebrows at it. All three of them were currently sitting in a somewhat empty little street café, under a bright blue-and-white umbrella. Other booths with similar umbrellas decking them and throwing elegant shade lay on either side as one waiter moved among them, wiping at the tables with a damp cloth.   
  
"Pop, I thought you decided to give up sugar after you were too hyper to fight and made me do it instead."  
  
"Nah, I decided to give up enough sugar to make me unstable."  
  
Ryouga watched the words tossed back and forth between father and son. "So, what happened to bring this on?" he ventured to ask.   
  
"Pop decided to have a little bit of tea with some sugar one day. He was bouncing around like the energy bunny from those foreigner ads, and he couldn't grip anything because it kept coming loose and he dropped it." Chiba gave his father a shame-on-you look as Ranma returned it with a sheepish smile, one hand behind his head. He looked at Ryouga and then shrugged. "It wasn't too hard to dispatch the Orca, he took one look at Pop and had a heart attack on the spot!"  
  
Ranma's mouth popped open in an undignified frown. "No he didn't!"  
  
"Did so! He fell right over, clutching at his chest and choking!"   
  
Ranma looked thoughtful. "You mean he wasn't laughing?"  
  
". . . Whatever . . ." Chiba lifted his tea cup to his lips, his lavender eyes shifting over to carefully watch Ryouga, who, true to his directionally-challenged ability, had mistaken the salt for the sugar and had just found out.   
  
Ranma and Chiba watched as Ryouga coughed, hacked, and made general bad faces to convey his disgust at the taste. He saw how the two other men were scrutinizing him and then began to grasp around for his dignity. When that didn't work, he decided to change the subject. "So, are you two going to explain to me exactly what has been happening lately?"  
  
"Sure, just a moment." Ranma lifted his hand and dropped a little black piglet onto the table.   
  
"Bwee?"  
  
"Ryouga, meet P-chan. P-chan, meet Ryouga."   
  
"Pop, why didn't you use hot water on him when you got it for your and my self."  
  
"For the mere fact I've been waiting to do something like this for years!" Ranma pointed at Ryouga, who had the chance to see himself as others saw him. Ranma leaned over to Chiba and nudged him in the side. "I wonder what he is thinking," he gleefully wondered.   
  
*Damn, I really am cute!*  
  
  
  
  
"Ranma, are you going to wake up any time soon?" Akane grumbled as neko-Ranma-chan continued to snore away in her lap. They had barely reached the bridge when Ranma-chan went into full neko-form. She instantly beat up (slightly) the trailing Mousse, who had grabbed neko-Shampoo at the last moment and blindly ran into the river. The last Akane saw of them was a sulking purple cat sitting on top of a duck with a pair of glasses as they floated down the river. After that, Ranma-chan had curled up in Akane's lap and went to sleep.   
  
Akane didn't mind it too much, preferring the overall peace of the drowsy afternoon and watching the clouds pass by. But she was worried about Ranma-chan because, in her panicked running, the wound in her side had opened and now the side of her shirt was beginning to show fresh patches of red.   
  
Akane had tried to lift the shirt up to look at the bandage, but the sleeping Ranma-chan had wriggled around in such a way that Akane was unable to get at the wound. She sighed with annoyance and quelled the urge to shake Ranma-chan awake before hitting her for being so hard. A cold wind blew across the air, touching Akane's cheek with icy fingers. Akane shivered and rubbed her arms. She frowned when she realized her legs had gone numb.   
  
  
  
  
It pounded against the weak spot, clawing desperately at it. It could feel the emotions of those passing near and it dearly wanted to reach out and experience these feelings. As it worked closer to its goal, a glowing bloodlust to take back what it had been denied for centuries past began to grow. As it did, the bloodlust began to touch and fuel itself in others of its kind.   
  
One by one, they began to join it in tearing the spot down.   
  
  
  
  
"And that is what we figured happen," Ranma finished, taking the opportunity of Ryouga's distracted thinking to swipe his sugar cubes. Chiba frowned at him and he smiled.  
  
"Hey, I never get this kind of sweetness back at home."  
  
"After that Orca nearly died from a heart attack, I don't blame the Amazons for hiding the sugar." Ranma shrugged and decided not to say anything. He reached across the table to nudge Ryouga in the shoulder. The Lost Man looked up expectedly. Ranma folded his arms on the table, resting his chin against the iron-hard muscle.   
  
  
"I don't know how you got here," he began. "but I think it might be because you get so lost as easily as you do."  
  
"How many times do I have to tell you," Ryouga began in mock-seriousness as he petted a protesting P-chan. "I am directionally-challenged."  
  
"Yeah, yeah. I'll let you live with your excuses."  
  
"Feh. And I suppose the next thing that'll happen is Tarou himself is going to be popping up and making a regular hell out of this mess."  
  
Ranma shrugged. The playfulness in his eyes died out. "Why not?" he asked sadly. "He's the last one who is still alive besides you and myself."   
  
The only sound for a few moments was the squealing protest of P-chan. Chiba frowned suddenly.  
  
"But none of this makes sense," he cut in. "Why now and why here? We haven't seen Ryouga since I fell into the spring of the drowned pikachu and that was more than four years ago. Something is wrong here."  
  
  
Ranma shrugged. "Yeah, it would be nice if we knew what the date was." He sat up and twisted in his chair, looking for the waiter. "Hey you!" He waved his hand frantically. The water looked up from where he had been wiping a seat off. He straightened up and tossed the cloth over his shoulder.  
  
"Yes?" he inquired as he drew close to Ranma.   
  
"What day is it?"  
  
"Friday."  
  
Chiba snickered behind his hand as Ranma frowned. "Well, that doesn't help us," he grumbled. "Give me the details about it. What day of the month? What year?"  
  
"Er," the waiter gave Ranma an odd glance. "It is July 5th, 1995."  
  
Chiba stopped snickering as he watched the color fade out of Ranma and Ryouga's faces. Ranma jumped out of his seat, sending the chair clattering against the pale blue tiling as he snatched the waiter up by the front of his shirt. "What time is it?" he yelled. The waiter took one look at the wild look that filled Ranma's blue eyes and then went slack.  
  
Ranma stared with disgust at the fainted body and effortlessly tossed it aside. "Where's a clock?" he demanded. He turned to his son. "What time does your watch say?" he demanded, snatching the wrist with the speed of his roasting chestnuts attack. He glanced at the watch and paled even more. "Damn! Ryouga, it's nearly two thirty!"  
  
Chiba jumped to his feet even as Ryouga leaped over the table and hurried after the quickly disappearing men. "What is it?" he called after them even as he hurried to catch up with the disappearing duo, trying to ignore the sharp, persistent burning in his side where a rib was currently missing.   
  
As he saw his father disappear around the corner, Ranma's voice shouted out to him, thick with emotion. "Today is Black Friday!" Chiba stumbled in shock and pain. When he had recovered himself, both Ryouga and Ranma were gone.   
  
"Bwee?" Chiba tossed a random glance over his shoulder to see a puzzled-looking P-chan. He stepped forward slowly, and then dived to make a wild grab at the black piglet as he decided maybe it was safer to run and then fight later. He caught the back leg and ignored the beating hoof against his wrist. He hugged an arm around the throbbing pain in his side.  
  
"Hush, I'm only going to use you as a decoy should I need you. Orcas delight in the taste of pork more than anything else."   
  
"BWEE?!"  
  
  
  
  
Light! After so long! Light! The creatures poured of out of their prison and arched towards what had been denied to them for the past years. Awkwardly, they stumbled around in an attempt to take in all their surroundings.   
  
It reached out to touch the old tree, even as it rotted and its leaves withered up and died-and then howled in agony when it realized it could not longer touch anything. Its anguish echoed and settled itself within the souls of the others. Mirrored and multiplied, the anguish grew in leaps and bounds until the pain lashed out for others. In a blind rush, it reached out to share its pain with anything. It found frustration and annoyance tied in a neat little ball within her. Recognizing the creature as being human, it reached out to make her hurt as much as it did.  
  
  
  
  
"NO!" Ranma's hand arched upward and flashed as a dragon-steel blade appeared in his hand. His wide blue eyes narrowed as angry tears shone bright within their depths. As if in slow motion, Akane, sitting on the bank of the river with Ranma-chan in her lap turned to see the person she has mistaken as Ranma earlier, dressed in a sleeveless blue jumped, rushing towards her with a sword and a wild light in his eyes.   
  
Reacting accordingly, Akane pushed the sleeping Ranma-chan out of her lap and leaped out of the way. As she moved, her skirt flared out beside her. Something hissed through the air and landed where she had been sitting, the edge of her skirt shredding into little more than dust and the ground ripping and sinking. Ranma-chan, free of her nap spot, rolled over the bank into the river. Akane dimly heard a splash as she tucked her body and then jumped to her feet, noticing a shimmering over the spot where she had been.  
  
At that moment, the Ranma-look-alike descended upon the spot, slashing at the shimmering. His sword flashed in the sunlight as crisscrossed red lines began to appear on the shimmering. It molded and leapt at him. His legs stumbled backwards even as his arm continued to guide the sword back and forth, his lips curling upwards in an open-mouthed scowl.   
  
Ranma-chan popped out of the river, water dripping from her flattened bangs. Her eyes widened as she saw the other Ranma and then they grew wider as her gaze traveled through the distance. She whirled around to face Akane, spotting the shimmering rushing towards her. "Akane!" she screamed, launching herself upward, her feet skidding across the wet grass as she sprinted towards the other girl.  
  
"No!" The other Ranma whirled around from what he had been slashing at and his form disappeared and then reappeared as he scooped Akane up. The ground where she had been sitting on exploded into dust. His sword flashed in his hand as he swiped long with it, leaving slight afterimages in its passing. Blood blasted in the air against the shimmering and then disappeared as a slight dust formed and floated down to the ground.   
  
  
  
  
It hurt.  
  
It really hurt.  
  
Why should it feel this pain and not feel the pleasure of touching? HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN? The rage burning within it burst and its thoughts came clear and bright.   
  
Why should its form bleed? Who was this person who dared to stop it and then began to kill of its kind!   
  
Retreat! It sent up a call among its kind and descended into the ground, deliberately sinking past the rocky soils into the far depths. Behind it, many of the others followed the orders, but a few did not.  
  
  
  
  
"Damn it all! Where's help when I need it?" the Ranma-lookalike demanded as his blade skittered across the figures that lay between him.  
  
"Right on it!" a voice called and an older-looking Ryouga came from nowhere and took his place beside the Ranma-lookalike, clumsily slashing at the shimmering. It easily dodged his blade.   
  
"And just when was the last time you tried to fight with a sword?"   
  
"About four years ago."  
  
"And that is supposed to be comforting?"  
  
"I never said it was."  
  
  
  
  
Ranma-chan reached the spot where Akane was sitting, stunned at being dropped on her backend in favor for some more fighting. "Let's get out of here," she said between gritted teeth, pulling at Akane's arm.  
  
"Wait, there is something about them that I must find out," she said, jerking her arm out of Ranma's grip. The memory of being possessed, of descending into the darker levels of his mind and suffering through the neko-ken training resurfaced in Ranma-chan's mind. She grabbed Akane's arm again.  
  
"Let's go," she snapped in a cold voice. "They are the ones that made me do what I did."  
  
"Them? But they look like you and Ryouga and I've talked to the Ranma person before! He's really nice!"  
  
"Not them, but those things they are fighting."   
  
"I'm getting tired!" the other Ranma wheezed.  
  
"Maybe old age is catching up with you?" Ryouga wondered as he ducked an onslaught of shimmering.   
  
"Maybe. We're both pushing past sixty."   
  
"It's hard to imagine that we'd ever live that long."  
  
"Yeah, isn't it?"   
  
"BWEEE!! BEWEEE!!"  
  
Heads turned at the sound. Ancient hunger for succulent pig meat rose and the shimmering jumped away from the Ryouga and Ranma-look-alikes even as a little black piglet wearing a yellow and black-spotted bandana was tossed into the fray.   
  
"P-CHAN!!" Akane screeched as she watched her beloved pet try to dodge the shimmering figures. Ranma-chan groaned.  
  
"Oh no! Not you!"   
  
"Better run, P-chan!" Chiba called from where he was standing on the street overlooking the river.   
  
"Hey!" The other Ranma brightened up. He turned and looked at Ryouga with shining eyes. "Why didn't we think of that?" Ryouga conveniently tripped onto his face in shock as the shimmering brushed past his hair. Black and gray strands of hair drifted to the ground.  
  
"Oh no you don't!"   
  
Akane jerked herself free from Ranma-chan's grasp, throwing her back into the water, and launched herself forward, aiming for the little black streak that ducked and avoided the shimmering. P-chan tripped over something and went still. She screamed when she saw the shimmering strike out at him.   
  
The Ranma-look-alike's head swiveled as if on a hinge. "AKANE!" The scream threw off the shimmering that aimed itself at Akane at the last moment. Instead of striking her dead center in the chest, it swerved and skimmed across her shoulder. The shirt ripped open upon contact. Blood splattered as the skin on her shoulder parted neatly. "AKANE!" The look-alike launched himself across the distance that lay between them, his sword moving like quicksilver, slicing anything that got into his way.   
  
Akane dropped to her knees, stunned at what had happened. Ranma-lookalike snatched her up as another shimmering jumped at her. His sword came up and struck the shimmering in the center. It ripped through the shimmering and a red-black liquid splattered out, running down the sword in rivulets. The shimmering turned black and faded as the other shimmerings fled downward into the ground. Ranma-lookalike dropped the sword as the liquid poured down the blade, onto the handle to barely touch the skin on his hand. It smoked and red welts arose at the touch.   
  
The older Ryouga reached their side and pulled Akane's shirt back. The wound was bleeding freely, the edges silver with a frost-like substance.   
  
"Quick!" Ranma-lookalike stood up with Akane in his arms. He sprinted suddenly down the street. "We have to find Cologne!"  
  
"The old goul?" Ranma-chan climbed her way out of the water. "Hey!" She started forward but was tripped by P-chan. "You stupid pig!" Her hand shot out to grab the animal and she stuffed him down the front of her shirt. Ryouga, true to his nature, promptly blacked out from a massive nosebleed.   
  
They did not see the black figure behind them, frantically waving his hands, jumping up and down, and yelling "HEY! What about me?" Chiba made a face from where he currently was. His hand subconsciously came up to gently touch his aching ribs. "I don't know where Cologne is!" he grumbled beneath his breath before turning away to make his way around the river.   
  
  
  
Cologne was sitting inside her empty restaurant, having a very nice cup of tea that soothed her sore bones and brightened her day up. That was when the front door was nearly ripped off its hinges and Ranma-with Akane, damn her hide-burst through. Cologne found herself in an awkward position when Akane was thrust before her.   
  
"Help her!" Ranma pleaded, his eyes wide with terror. "Orca poison!"   
  
"Orca!" This was more surprising; the ancient enemy of the Amazon had been buried within the earth many centuries ago. That Ranma should even know the name of the feared demon was a shock in itself. Cologne's eyes traveled over their faces, and then realization hit her. Akane was indeed poisoned; her eyes held the vacant look that a victim was told to have, as well as the wound on her shoulder being tinged with silver. And this person was not Ranma. At least, not the Ranma she knew. This Ranma was much older, and much more battle-hardened.   
  
And familiar with the poison. She found herself staring at Akane even as Ranma continued to babble. "I don't have the supplies needed for the cure, but you do! You must, you said you did!" Not knowing what he meant in his last sentence, Cologne silently hopped from the table into her kitchen, glad for once that her great-granddaughter was on a delivery and would not be in the way.   
  
She rummaged through her supplies, searching for the herbs needed to create a poultice that would draw the poison from the wound and awake Akane from her dreaming-sleeping-awaking mood. The ingredients were quite common, thankfully, otherwise there would be no way for her to do anything about it. She heard her door slam open and then shut. Hoping they were customers that would go away in a few moments, she set to placing a pot full of water onto the stove. When the footsteps hurried into her kitchen, she looked up to see Ryouga-older than what she was accustomed to-and the real Ranma.   
  
"Good day, son-in-law," she said as she turned back to mixing ingredients. Not taking it as a barb as he usually did, Ranma-chan stayed silent. Her eyes settled upon the prone figure that lay across the kitchen table. The other Ranma turned to Ryouga.   
  
"They dispersed and went underground. Normally, they would recooperate and come back tomorrow, but that was then and this is now. We don't know what they are like or what they are going to do this early and this inexperienced."  
  
Ryouga nodded his head in agreement. "Right." As one, they turned and walked towards the door. The real Ranma started towards them.  
  
"Stay here!" snapped the other Ranma without looking around.  
  
"Wait!" Cologne hopped from her stool before the stove and one towards them. "What are you two going to do?"  
  
The Ranma smiled grimly. It wasn't a comforting sight. "We're going Orca hunting. As soon as we know that the Orcas will stay underground for the time being and will do the ususal thing-which is come up the next morning-we will be back." Once more, they walked towards the door. As Ryouga opened it and walked through, Ranma grabbed the side of the door and turned back to look at them. "I will be back," he promised again. "Stay here, do not venture outwards. If you do and the Orcas have come back . . ." He did not finish his sentence, but turned away from them with shining eyes.  
  
Cologne shrugged her shoulders and went back to making her poultice. Ranma was silent for a time.   
  
But only for a time."  
  
"What's wrong with Akane?"   
  
"She'll be alright just as soon as I give her the antidote to her problem."  
  
Another pause, and then: "Which is?"  
  
"An ancient remedy." Cologne left it at that. Several minutes passed until the water was boiling and she had added the necessary ingredients. The water became thick and the air was filled with the many scents of herbs, rosemary being the prominent of them all. Cologne bade them to place Akane on one of the kitchen table and then poured the poultice directly onto the wound. The silver edges turned white, then pink, and finally faded.   
  
Cologne made herself another cup of tea when she found that hers had become cold, and then set to waiting. By the time sunset was drawing near, Mousse and Shampoo had both come and gone twice out on deliveries at different intervals They had, of course, demanded hotly to know why Akane (or Ranma) were doing there, and why was Akane sprawled across the table?   
  
Cologne merely looked at them, a silent warning as to what would happen if they questioned her again. Mousse and Shampoo grumped, frowned, pouted (and hugged Ranma, in Shampoo's case), and then went back to their duties.  
  
By the time the other Ranma and Ryouga came back, both were still gone. They seated themselves at the table and Cologne wordlessly gave them teas meant to give their tired bodies extra boosts of energy. By that time, Akane had woken up. She began to ask what happened and what was currently going on, but the Ranma-lookalike waved her to silence.   
  
She sat down between the two Ranmas who silently regarded one another with hostility, as if the one was an intruder in the other's territory.   
  
Ryouga, not Cologne, was the one who spoke. "This is unnerving," he said softly. When the Ranma-who-was-not-Ranma looked up to see what Ryouga was talking about, the other man smiled, showing his characteristic fangs. "Now you know what it feels like, don't you Ranma?"  
  
Ranma, who was still a girl, was the next person who spoke. "You're me. But you aren't me."  
  
The Ranma looked thoughtful. "Yeah. I guess that just about sums it up."   
  
They fell silent once more. Cologne felt it was her turn to speak. "So what do you know of the Orcas, how did you come to find out, and something I'm sure we others all want to know: who are you?"  
  
Ranma looked thoughtful and distant. "So many questions," he said softly, "yet there is only one way to answer them. I believe that, rather than tell the story many times over, I would do so only once, but everyone must be present. Well, Akane's family, my father, you, Shampoo and Mousse. No exception otherwise."  
  
And that moment, the fainted P-chan came awake. He instantly leapt at the first Ranma he saw (the male one) and was immediately flattened against the table with one absent-minded whack from Ranma. Ryouga smacked him across the head.  
  
"Hey! That generally hurts, you know!"  
  
  
  
  
"I never thought the day would come." Chiba frowned and thoughtfully crossed his arms. "And now I know exactly how uncle Ryouga feels: Where in the hell am I now?"   
  
  
  
  
After some protest, loud demands for explanations, and finally, streams of tears, everyone the Ranma person (whom had taken to being called Elder Ranma after he told Shampoo he was sixty-three years old) called for had arrived. Elder Ranma and Elder Ryouga (who also said he was sixty-three) remained quiet and unmoving through it all.  
  
A glazed look came over Elder Ranma's eyes as he watched Akane sitting in her chair, snuggling P-chan close to her chest.   
  
  
"Okay Elder Ranma, tell us now," Cologne said as she and the others poured themselves cups of teas and watched both Elders closely. Elder Ranma opened his mouth to say something and that was when the door to the restaurant swung open.  
  
"Can't you read the sign?" Cologne demanded, glancing over. "We're closed."   
  
The figure at the door glared coldly at her. Elder Ranma swung around in his seat and gave the person a gentle smile. "Come here," he said fondly, opening his arms wide. The person limped forward and finally collapsed on top of Elder Ranma. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet my son, Chiba." Chiba slowly slid from his father's lap onto the floor at his feet.  
  
"Son . . ." Genma leaned over the table to stare at the ragged figure, who glared back at him. "Is he yours and Akane?" he wondered eagerly. Soun jumped up and planted himself over Genma, pushing the larger man into the table.   
  
"He has Akane's eyes!" he cried, tears flowing from his eyes. Nabiki, Ranma, Shampoo, and P-chan jumped in with their own questions.   
  
Akane glared at Chiba, who gladly returned it with a look as equally cold and angry. *My eyes aren't that color,* she thought to herself, more surprised than angry.  
  
Elder Ranma held his hands up as a signal for silence, but was ignored.  
  
Elder Ryouga banged the table with a fist. The table cracked and then collapsed on the floor.   
  
"Thanks." Chiba slid from his father's lap onto the floor. He pulled his legs beneath himself and pressed his body against Elder Ranma's legs. He surveyed the others across the rubble. Cologne knocked Elder Ryouga across the head with her walking stick.   
  
"Don't do that again," she warned him. Elder Ryouga rubbed his head and nodded empathetically.   
  
Elder Ranma crossed his arms before him and composed his facial expression into neutral. "I called you all here for an explanation of my past, what I am doing here, what I am, and what just happened. Why, you may wonder? Be quiet as I tell my tale; any interruptions will be ignored and I will answer any and all questions after I'm done." 


	4. Ranma's Tale

  
I remember it all as if it were yesterday. I am sixty-three years now, and the last forty-six of those years have been spent in killing demons. It is odd how some memories of the past are burned into your mind, the colors, smells, sounds, shapes, and other features etched with such a brilliance that it is likely to be the last things in life to be forgotten. I have a few memories like that. My wedding, the birth of my son, these are two such things. But the first of these-the very cause of everything else-looms above me like clouds before the sun.   
  
Allow me to explain these demons that Ryouga, my son, and I fight. Where they originated from and how they came to be here, these things are unknown to us. We were never able to keep one alive long enough to tell us. We always killed them in the end. We had to.  
  
These demons lack form and feature, so they must steal people's identities by taking over their body. When this happens, the real inhabitant of the body sinks into their worst nightmare and live it the entire time he or she is possessed. It's horrible; there is no other way to describe it. These demons can be cruel, they can be kind; to this very day, even after almost half a century of fighting these demons, they continue to amaze me.   
  
I know only a few things. Their touch without a human body is poisonous. They can control the body even after the real inhabitant dies. They love pork meat for reasons unknown, and the sound of squealing pig or the scent of cooking bacon will cause them to chase after it. Only weapons tempered by a dragon's fire can do them damage outside of a human's body. If you kill the human body they inhabit, then they die with it. This weapon I have, this one here, I did not make it. I do not know who did. The Amazons possessed these weapons from the time when dragons and Orcas and other great beasts roamed the world. It was passed on to me to kill Orcas, because that was what they were made for, and that was why they had been preserved for so long.   
  
On this day, forty-six years ago, I had gone into neko-form because of Shampoo and Akane was chasing after us, beating up things with her mallet. I don't know if there is a connection between that and the release of the demons. After forty-six years, we never really did find out how they were released.   
  
I was waking from neko-form, in Akane's lap as usual, when I felt something coming. It-I can't describe it. It wanted blood, it wanted freedom, it wanted to hurt others as much as it was hurt, and it was frustrated. All these emotions hit my mind like a wave, and I fell from Akane's lap and rolled into the river-we had been sitting on the riverbank, and Akane reached a hand out to help me from the waters. I saw the shimmering before it hap-I saw the shimmering. I thought it had been beautiful, like dew in the grass with the sunlight bouncing from it.   
  
But it held an ugliness in it.  
  
As Akane's hand reached out to me, the shimmering struck her back and forth, back and forth, sawing like a blade. With Akane's hand in my own, I saw her eyes open wide in astonishment and she slumped forward. I saw her back. It was sliced to ribbons, like raw meat-snnnnook.   
  
*sniff sniff* Anyone have a handkerchief? Thanks Cologne.   
  
It hurt, to see that Akane had died like that. She was dead, yes; I admit it freely to all you at this table! To my time, forty-six years ago, on this Friday, by the riverbank and with her own hand in my own, Akane died. This went down in history to be known as the Black Friday, and for good reason too. It was a bloody, gruesome day.  
  
I don't know why I didn't die that day. The shimmering floated around almost aimlessly. I leapt from the water and tried attacking, but every time I did, I slipped through. Remember, these demons have no substance. I don't know why I wasn't poisoned. I finally ran from them with Akane's body in my arms. I ran all the way home, even as people watched and stared at me. They were killed on the spot though, even as the shimmering followed after me. It still didn't attack me though. It was as if it was waiting for something. When I reached home, it attacked and killed Kasumi, Nabiki, and Tendo. But Ryou-er, P-chan was alive! The shimmering followed after him. I grabbed him and ran but P-chan had been caught by the shimmering and was somehow sliced down the line of his back. The wound was tinged silver and he sort of became listless. The shimmering grew and grew until it was attacking everyone in Nerima. Kunou fell, Kodatch, Ucchan, everyone. Everywhere I ran, people were dead.  
  
I found Cologne and Shampoo fighting them with swords. They were killing the shimmerings. I asked them how to do it, but they didn't have time to explain. Night fell, and when it did, the shimmerings disappeared. Because they had been trapped in the darkness for so long, they couldn't stand it. In all those horror tales of monsters, you hear about how you are safest in the light; that isn't the case with these demons. Cologne healed P-chan, telling me her Amazonian legends about these monsters and how the only way to kill them were by using dragonfire-tempered steel. Nothing else could cut them.   
  
After that, we fled to China where other villages would have weapons needed. You might have wondered what happened to Mousse through this all. He followed after us, but he had been possessed by the leader of the demons almost immediately. We don't know why he was chosen. In China, we gathered together all the other fighters we could find. Tarou joined us, he fought with Ryouga and myself, and he was very good. I trusted him with my life, I continue to do so. For six years we fought the best we could, but the demons continued to spread across the world, either killing those they could or possessing them.   
  
By the seventh year, we had a name for them. It was the name of the legend, known by few. It was believed that to recite the name was to invoke the demons and court death with them, so Cologne was very reluctant to tell us their name. In that seventh year, Tarou was attacked by Mousse and many other Orcas. We weren't there when it happened, but we felt the Orcas gathering together to fight. I and Shampoo ran after the fight, but it was too late to do anything by the time we got there.   
  
Mousse and all other Orcas had been killed by Tarou. He fought valiantly against them and lived, drained of everything he had in which to win the battle. Energy, curse, color. Everything. He became white and weak. He is still alive today as far as I know, and he has regained his strength-heh, and then some!-, but his curse was gone and he never regained his color, so he is colorless all over, from his hair and eyes to his skin. So, in case anyone sees him, don't be alarmed. And if you wish to live, don't call him a freak. He takes that worse than pantyhose itself.   
  
Anyway, years passed. Sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly. Cologne died seventeen years into the fighting, and after nineteen years, the amount of Orcas had finally been shortened enough for us not to really worry about them. In the earlier years, the amount of Orcas just kept growing and growing until the world seemed to be overrun with them and humans were an endangered species that was quickly dying out.   
  
Twenty years had finally come and gone. I was thirty-seven at the time. I wasn't in the prime of my life; that had passed long ago, but constant fighting kept me in good shape. I decided to take a look back on my life; I wondered how it all could have disappeared so easily. My youth; what might have it become if I had only the chance? I don't know. Sometimes regrets should not be allowed to come into existence. I loved Akane back in those days.   
  
Haha! Look! She's blushing!   
  
Ouch! Chiba! You didn't have to hit me . . .   
  
Anyways, I loved Akane. But love can only last so long without being fed.   
  
So I instead turned my thoughts to Shampoo. Yes, my dear Shampoo-ah! Down Pop! Down Tendo!  
  
Eeehh . . .  
  
Really Ryouga, was that necessary? Ah well; they had it coming. I wonder if I should wait for them to come around before finishing . . . Nah.  
  
Anyways, we fought together for twenty years, side by side, trusting and caring for one another. Until that moment though, I hadn't actually thought about it. And the more I did think of it, the more aware I became of how much she truly loved me, to be together with me for so long. She never asked for anything in return. She seemed to be satisfied with just being with me. But I knew she wanted more. I knew she wanted a family. We were both getting on in age and time would quickly pass until it was too late to do anything. Heh.  
  
That really is funny. We were both getting on in age. Ha ha! Look at me, I'm sixty-three, and I thought thirty-seven was old! Ha ha ha! Okay, I'll quit now. I just think that is funny though! Look, it just a few short years, I would have been fighting these Orcas for fifty years. That is half a century!   
  
Anyway, I cornered her one day and we began to talk of the days of our dysfunctional youth. We had a lot of fun, remembering those memories. I then reminded her of the Amazon law of marriage, of my beating her. She merely shrugged it off and said the war had to come first.   
  
I said the war is fine as it was. I told her I loved her.   
  
We married two years later. Now, understand that there weren't too many humans around and we had to get the best we could. Very few family and friends still lived, so I asked that we wait for such a time when both Tarou and Ryouga could make it to the wedding, just because it would make it seem more precious, more wonderful to have friends there. They did, eventually. It was one of those days that will remain bright and crystal clear in my memory. I loved Shampoo back then. In my own way, I still love her now.  
  
Please, don't look at me like that Cologne. I'm much too old to get a wife as young as the current Shampoo. And you shut up, Ryouga. You don't need to-Chiba! . . . Are you two finished laughing at my expense?   
  
. . .   
  
Are you done yet?   
  
Good. I'll finish my story now.   
  
Our son-Chiba, as you can see here-was born a year after that. It was a difficult birth for Shampoo. As in good shape as she was from all the fighting, the pregnancy took a toll upon her. She was forty years old, past her child-bearing prime and stressed at still having to fight. I remember I had to literally chase her away from fights so she wouldn't endanger our unborn child. But she had Chiba. Three years after that, she died.   
  
  
Not in the actual sense of dying, mind you. She was captured and absorbed by an Orca. We had found, through years of experience, that anyone who has been possessed by an Orca for more than a year, dies. Somehow, the Orca managed to keep her out of our reach for well over a year. Two years, and then three passed. We fought against the Orca that had stolen my wife. We fought so very hard. Somehow, the Orca managed to rally other Orcas together. In the year that Tarou had killed Mousse, the Orcas dispersed because they didn't have leadership.   
  
In the year that I was fifty-two-a good nine years after she had been possessed-I finally caught up with Shampoo. We battled it out. I was the better of the two. I always had been. I killed the Orca; I destroyed the body it had possessed. It left its own toll on me though.   
  
More years passed. It got so that Orcas became a rare sighting, until only the more powerful ones lived. I am now sixty-three. We fought against the Orcas for more than forty-six years. Over those years, magic and other forbidden arts came into play. Anything to get rid of the Orcas. But that is all done with. Finally, on the one day I decide to take a break and let my son actually do the fighting for me; when I bother to actually have some blueberry ice-cream, the dimensional barrier-perhaps made weak from all our fighting-broke. I, Chiba and the Orca he was fighting, and Ryouga fell through it. Who knows what else fell through? Who knows why that happened or what will happen?  
  
The future is unknown to us all, and it changes even now with every word I speak. I don't know about the Orcas. Somehow, by appearing and fighting them, we managed to scare them away before they could grow bold and attack more. I don't know what is going to happen.  
  
. . .  
  
And in which case, I'm not going to bother with such worries on an empty stomach. So Cologne, what's for dinner tonight?  



	5. When too little is too much

They watched Elder Ryouga, Elder Ranma, and Chiba eat slowly, as if savoring the taste of their noodles and not knowing when they would next get to eat. Genma watched them pass spices back and forth politely with one another, and then jumped to his feet.   
  
"Boy! You are getting rusty if you let your rival-" here he pointed an accusing finger at a surprised Elder Ryouga "-get the best of you! And is your son as soft as you?" With that, Genma launched what might have been a fierce kick at Elder Ranma.   
  
Without blinking, Elder Ranma's hand came up, snatched the foot, and levered Genma's barreling speed against him. The bald martial artist found his flight stopped unexpectedly by the wall. The building shook upon impact. Elder Ranma snorted with disdain as he went back to his food.   
  
"I do not appreciate people making assumptions upon my skills. I'd rather save my strength and energy fighting against those things that deserve it." He looked thoughtful for a moment and then cast a withering glance over his shoulder at Genma. "One of these days, I'm going to have a genetics test just to prove I'm his son."  
  
Soun choked upon his noodles.   
  
Elder Ryouga shrugged. "Makes sense to me."  
  
Chiba snorted. "I hope I'm not related to that man!"  
  
Elder Ranma sighed dramatically as everyone began to inch away from the three. "Unfortunately, I don't believe I will actually do that. I'm afraid I will be rather disappointed if it turned out I really was his son, and if I wasn't, then whose son would I be?" He frowned thoughtfully. "Wouldn't it be interesting to know that perhaps I was Soun's illegimate son from an affair my mom had with him?"   
  
Soun stared at Elder-Ranma, who looked quite thoughtful and serious. The man burst into tears. Nabiki and Kasumi gave Elder-Ranma disapproving looks as he threw his head back and laughed. A few moments passed as Kasumi rubbed her father's back and tried to sooth him.  
  
Elder-Ranma shoved his bowl away when he finished his meal and pulled his tea cup close. "Pass the sugar," he requested Chiba, pointing at the sugar bowl sitting next to Akane.  
  
Chiba eyed it as if it was going to leap up and kick him in the face.   
  
"Just take it!" Akane shoved the sugar bowl over to Elder-Ranma. He smiled graciously at her before he began to scoop the sugar out of the bowl and dump it into his tea cup.   
  
Cologne cleared her throat. Everyone looked at her expectedly. "Do you three have a place to stay?" she asked.   
  
"Well, there is this hotel room-"  
  
"We got kicked out of that," Chiba reminded him.  
  
"We did? Rats."  
  
Cologne nodded to herself. "You can stay here," she said. Tendo leapt to his feet, his earlier tears forgotten.  
  
"Absolutely not! The boy can stay with us! As it is his solemn obligation to fulfill his destiny of joining the house of Tendo and Saotome together-" here he gave Chiba a look that very nearly made the young man leap up and strangle Tendo were it not for the fact that Elder Ranma grabbed Chiba by his hair "-and therefore it is his right and obligation to stay with us."  
  
Ranma looked up from his bowl of rice. "Which Ranma are we talking about?" he wondered.  
  
Elder Ranma sighed and went back to scooping sugar into his tea. "First of all, it is not my obligation to marry one of your kids, because back in my world, all of your girls died! Second of all, were I to marry one of your daughters, she would have to face up to the fact I will forever hold her against the shadow of my dead wife-who is Shampoo. Third of all, I'm sure she and her 'step-son' who is, might I add, older than any one of your three daughters, would not get along too well. Fourth of all, do not call me a boy or tell me what to do, as I am currently old enough to be YOUR father, Tendo."  
  
Elder Ranma stopped speaking and looked down at his tea cup. He sighed and began to chew on his tea. Soun burst into tears again.  
  
"That's a lot of sugar," Akane began slowly. Her eyes kept flickering back and forth between Elder Ranma, Ranma, and Shampoo. Once, they settled upon Chiba, but when he realized she was watching him, her eyes strayed onward to a different person.  
  
Elder Ranma looked down at the tea cup and then favored her with a wide grin. "So?" He took another bite.   
  
Kasumi watched him with wide yes. "Oh my!" she said. "Do you realize that so much sugar would endanger your health, especially at your age? I don't believe you would actually welcome that during this time."   
  
Elder Ranma gave his tea a sad look. "But I like lots of sugar!" he finally protested. He grinned at Kasumi. "Besides, it has been in my experience that sugar is one of the healthiest aspects in my life." He took another bite. Akane sighed, and spoke up.  
  
"Where will you be staying then, if not with, um, us?"   
  
"Oh, I don't know." Elder-Ranma shielded his eyes and looked around. "Let me see . . . How about . . . Here?" He turned to Cologne with a cheesy grin. She blankly stared at him.  
  
"That may be a good idea, son-in-law. There are many things I would like to talk to you about."   
  
"No!" Heads turned to see Genma weakly lifting himself off the floor. "No! Boy, you are obliged to the Saotome family! For that, you are to marry one of Tendo's girls for the sake of the schools and join them together!" He finished standing up and squared his shoulders back. "I would have expected better from you. All those years I spent training you, all the things I did for you, and you repaid me by marrying a Chinese huss-"  
  
Genma found himself silenced by a knife being buried unexpectedly beside his head in the wall. Elder Ranma took deep breaths as his arm, still in a throwing position, continued to point almost accusingly at the man he had once called his father. He turned to Cologne.  
  
"Many years ago, I learned three very important things. The first was if I did not somehow change and become more flexible with the situation of constant death and killing, I would go mad. The second thing I learned was I had to gain two important abilities in order to achieve this. The first was patience. Without patience, I could lose more than just my temper, but also my life. Anger clouds judgement, and without judgement, one's fighting abilities are-excuse my language, delicate blossoms of ladies-worth shit."  
  
Akane felt herself slowly sinking downward on her cushion as her face flushed with shame. Each word seemed to be aimed at her, though she knew she should not feel like that. And why was P-chan blushing a bright red?  
  
"The second ability was an easygoing, laidback temperament. I cannot be patient if I am a rigid, constantly tense person. That is a bomb just waiting to explode."   
  
Akane sank even further down. Chiba watched her with a blank expression, though his eyes spoke multitudes of what he already thought of her. P-chan's face grew a little redder.  
  
"The third important thing I learned was I needed to get rid of certain values in which to live. The more I fought, the easier it became to kill, to become emotionless and careless with human life. I constantly had to remind myself that each life was as important as the last. For every demon I killed, that was one last demon that would hurt someone else. But it did not seem to help, because many of the demons that we had to kill possessed humans. There is a blade-the Eos Blade-that draws the Orca from a person, but they were always so rare that we would only use them unless we absolutely had to with an extremely important person. We only did realize we had them until about twelve years into the fighting." He lifted his shirt and pointed at a thin scar in his side between his ribs. "I was one of the few to have it used on. I was too important as an Orca hunter for anyone to argue. But it hurt to know that, because an Eos Blade can only be used once. We had lost the knowledge of creating more, and for each person that I killed, I wished there was an Eos Blade I could have saved them with. And through that thought, I began to cherish human life once more."  
  
Ranma's hand crept to the bandaging around his side. The scar in Elder Ranma's side was in the exact same position as his own fresh wound that Chiba had administered to him.   
  
Elder Ranma stood up slowly and turned to look at Genma. "Which is why I have to say this: Do not tempt me to break every single bone in your body twice over. I'm rather afraid I may relish the moment."  
  
"I am your father-"  
  
"MY father is DEAD! I killed him once and I will kill him again if I have to!"   
  
A collective gasp went up around the table and Genma turned a deadly white. "You killed . . ."  
  
"Why do you think I never mentioned your fate in the story, eh, old man?" Elder Ranma's eyes glittered, their dark blue depths drawing up unfathomable emotions. He sighed, and threw a smile over his shoulder at Ranma. "For a brief moment, I wondered which Ranma he was speaking to earlier, and then I also remembered what it was like, to be constantly under his thumb with no choice of my own. Makes you wonder why he is always so fixed upon joining the schools. Well," he looked at Genma, "since you want to join the two houses so much, why don't you adopt one of the Tendo girls, eh?  
  
"Of course, it may assure you, Genma, that you were possessed at the time I killed you. It wasn't long enough for you to be broken and dead while the Orca continued living in your body. But looking at you at this moment . . . It makes me glad I did. Because right now I want to break your neck, and I keep recalling what happened to my old man in my world."   
  
He loomed over Genma, becoming the very figure that allowed him to survive in a world that had killed millions of others before their time. His eyes glittered angrily and his body, slightly stockier than the other Ranma's because of all the extra muscle, was tensed and ready to spring into killing action at the blink of an eye.  
  
Nabiki raised her hand as if she were in class asking a question. "I have a question," she began. Elder Ranma turned toward her, his eyebrows raised in question. Nabiki folded her arms over the table. "What of your curse?"  
  
Ranma himself leaned closer.   
  
Elder Ranma burst out laughing. "Curse? What curse?"  
  
Ranma leapt to his feet. "You mean you found a cure?"  
  
Elder Ranma stopped laughing and looked directly at Ranma. "Are you kidding?"   
  
Ranma stared at him in surprise. "But-what about-"  
  
"Ah, that is something I forgot to mention. You see, with all the fighting, there was never enough time to actually look for a cure, and about fifteen years into it, I never even noticed when I changed until someone pointed it out to me. Oh yes, on some level, I realized I still had the problem. However, that didn't seem too important in the light of everything else."   
  
Elder Ranma sat down and put an arm around his son's shoulders. "Chiba was about three years old when he lost his mother. I felt it was an awful thing. Mind you, it was normal for a child to lose one or both parents at an early age, but I still felt it was bad. So, I literally sought to be both his mother and his father! Until he was nine years old, I was constantly in my female form, unless I went out to fight, and then I took my male form. In any case, he winded up with a very well-rounded childhood."   
  
Elder Ranma looked thoughtful for a moment, shot a look of annoyance at Genma who quivered again, and then looked across the table at Cologne. "It is important to the child that both his parents are readily available to him. I strived to be both. You know, I hated my curse up until that moment I chose to be Chiba's mother. And then I found it to be a blessing. So am I cursed? No, I don't believe so."   
  
Mousse, silent up until this time, pushed his glasses across the bridge of his nose. "Two questions. How did you manage to live in a safe place or raise children? I mean, where did you stay? And what do we do about these Orcas?"  
  
Elder Ryouga was the one who spoke first. "We wait. It is no use to go after Orcas at night because you can't see or sense them. They disappear, we don't know where they go."  
  
"When day comes," Elder Ranma began, "Ryouga-er, my Ryouga-and I will go looking for them. In the mean time, Chiba will train the rest of you ways to see them before they attack and what to do when that happens-"  
  
"I'm going to teach you run very fast," Chiba deadpanned as he crossed his arms before his chest. Elder Ranma pinched him arm.  
  
"You be quiet. As of now, we do not have the weapons in which to actually fight these creatures." He looked at Cologne for confirmation. She nodded.  
  
"It will take many weeks to overcome protocol with my tribes and many more weeks in which to ship the weapons out there."   
  
Elder Ryouga made a fist. "Tarou! That's who we need! He carried enough weapons on him to take on an army of Orcas."   
  
Chiba snorted. "He usually did too."  
  
Elder Ranma waved his hands in the air. "Ah, we must remember why he is known as Tarou the White though, which is why he carries so many weapons." He sighed. "I would feel better if he was here with us. Now that is a single-minded man who knows what he wants and goes after it with a purpose to rival any marriage-seeking Amazoness."  
  
Shampoo's eyes grew wide. "Hey!"   
  
"Ah, no offense to you, Shampoo my dear." Elder Ranma turned back to Mousse. Beneath the table, Mousse's hands were tightening to fists. He took several breaths to calm his rising jealousy. Elder Ranma leaned forward, folding his arms over the table. "Yes, we stayed in a safe place. Well, relatively safe place," he amended. "As I said earlier, we did use the magical arts. The Orcas seemed to be relatively weak against it. I never really managed to learn anything, though Chiba and Ryouga are skilled."  
  
"Tarou,"Elder Ryouga said again. "He was much stronger in it than us."   
  
"Yeah." Elder Ranma absently nodded his head, as if trying to gather his thoughts together. "Because they were weak against it, Orcas could not get to any place that was chock full of magic. The Jusenkyo springs is loaded with magic. So, in the very middle of the springs, we gathered together all the people we could find, and plunked them down in a village we created. Of course, this had some unusual side effects."   
  
There was a long pause. Kasumi ventured to speak. "What sort of side effects?"   
  
"Well, people tripping at the most inopportune times," Elder Ranma replied airily. He pointed at Chiba. "Take him, for instance. Chiba nearly fell into the Spring of the Almost-Drowned Akane. But don't worry, a different spring broke his fall."   
  
"What spring was that?" Nabiki asked.   
  
Elder Ranma tipped a cold cup of tea over Chiba.  
  
"Ahhh-pika!"  
  
Nabiki stared down at the sputtering yellow creature. Its fur stood on end in anger and it rounded upon Elder-Ranma with a fierce growl. "It's a pikachu. How is it possible there is a spring of the drowned pikachu?"  
  
Elder-Ranma shrugged and tipped a cup of hot tea over the animal. Chiba appeared, wet and still as spitting angry as he had been earlier. "Ask me how it is possible there is a spring of the drowned octopus?"  
  
No one could answer that. 


End file.
